P.A. gets $300 million in aid pledges

September 23, 2008 9:00am

Western nations pledged $300 million in rapid aid transfers to the Palestinian Authority.

P.A. Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad announced the pledges – $150 million from the United States, $115 million from the European Union and $15 million from Norway – on Monday in New York, where he is attending the launch of the United Nations General Assembly.

The money comes on top of $7.7 billion pledged earlier this year at the Paris conference aimed at shoring up Fayyad’s relatively moderate government. Much of that money has been slow in coming, however, particularly amounts promised by Arab nations.

Fayyad said the new money would be coming soon, noting P.A difficulties in recent months in paying salaries.

“This will help in dealing with the liquidity problem,” he said, according to Reuters. “We’re talking about a financing gap that must be bridged.”